Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
DETAILED ACTION
This office action is in reply to the Applicant Arguments/Remarks filed on 13 May 2026 for application 18/014,881 filed 06 January 2023, 371 of PCT/US2021/040714 filed 07 July 2021, with PRO 63/048,910 filed 07 July 2020. Claims 1-2 are amended. Claims 3-14, 16-29, 31-34, 36-49, 51-52, 54-67, 69-75, 78-87, 89-119, 121-181, 183-191, 192-227, 229-233, 237-252 and 255-257 are canceled. Claims 30, 53, 68, 76-77, 88, 120, 192, 234-236 and 253-254 are withdrawn. Currently, claims 1-2, 15, 30, 35, 50, 53, 68, 76-77, 88, 120, 182, 192, 228, 234-236, 253-254 and 258.
REJECTIONS WITHDRAWN
The status for each rejection and/or objection in the previous office action is set out below.
35 U.S.C. 102, 103, and Double Patenting
Applicant’s amendments to claims 1 and 2, further limiting the compounds of formula I-a, is sufficient to overcome these rejections.
REJECTIONS – MAINTAINED & NEW
Applicant’s amendments to independent claim 1 have resulted in the below new prior art rejection.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 102
In the event the determination of the status of the application as subject to AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103 (or as subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 102 and 103) is incorrect, any correction of the statutory basis (i.e., changing from AIA to pre-AIA ) for the rejection will not be considered a new ground of rejection if the prior art relied upon, and the rationale supporting the rejection, would be the same under either status.
The following is a quotation of the appropriate paragraphs of 35 U.S.C. 102 that form the basis for the rejections under this section made in this Office action:
A person shall be entitled to a patent unless –
(a)(1) the claimed invention was patented, described in a printed publication, or in public use, on sale, or otherwise available to the public before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
(a)(2) the claimed invention was described in a patent issued under section 151, or in an application for patent published or deemed published under section 122(b), in which the patent or application, as the case may be, names another inventor and was effectively filed before the effective filing date of the claimed invention.
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) as being anticipated by C. Duke (Free radical- and reactive oxygen species-reacting compounds, US 2020/0102281 A1, 2020).
Duke discloses compound XXVIII which reads upon formula I-b where B is
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61
123
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, J being an optionally substituted alkylene, and t = s = 0, as illustrated below (pg. 14, para. 0077):
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64
295
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As such, Duke anticipates claim 1.
Allowable Subject Matter
Claims 2, 15, 35, 50, 68, 182, 228, and 258 are objected to as being dependent upon a rejected base claim, but would be allowable if rewritten in independent form including all of the limitations of the base claim and any intervening claims.
Reasons For Allowable Subject Matter
The following is an examiner’s statement of reasons for allowance: elected species formula I-a and I-b were not taught in the prior art in a 100% embodiment.
No examples of eligible structures beyond acyclic dehydrosqualene, which no longer reads upon formula I-a, were identified.
Any comments considered necessary by applicant must be submitted no later than the payment of the issue fee and, to avoid processing delays, should preferably accompany the issue fee. Such submissions should be clearly labeled “Comments on Statement of Reasons for Allowance.”
Response to Arguments
The office kindly thanks the Applicant for their consideration and arguments to the previous office action. Responses are detailed below.
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 26 – Rejection Under 35 U.S.C. § 102, filed 13 May 2026, with respect to claims 1, 2 and 258 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The rejection of 1, 2 and 258 has been withdrawn.
Applicant’s arguments, see pg. 28 – Claim Objections, filed 13 May 2026, with respect to claims 15, 35, 50, 182, and 228 have been fully considered and are persuasive. The objection of 15, 35, 50, 182, and 228 has been withdrawn.
Summary
Claim 1 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2). Claims 2, 15, 35, 50, 68, 182, 228, and 258 are objected to being dependent on a rejected base claim.
Conclusion
Claims 1 is rejected. Claims 2, 15, 35, 50, 68, 182, 228, and 258 are objected to. Claims 30, 53, 68, 76-77, 88, 120, 192, 234-236 and 253-254 are withdrawn.
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Allen Chao whose telephone number is (571)272-7001. The examiner can normally be reached Monday - Friday 0700-1300.
Examiner interviews are available via telephone, in-person, and video conferencing using a USPTO supplied web-based collaboration tool. To schedule an interview, applicant is encouraged to use the USPTO Automated Interview Request (AIR) at http://www.uspto.gov/interviewpractice.
If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, James H Alstrum-Acevedo can be reached at 571-272-5548. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/ALLEN CHAO/Examiner, Art Unit 1622
/JAMES H ALSTRUM-ACEVEDO/Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1622
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